This Woman's Work
by XMelvdsX
Summary: Set during NJO. Songfic Luke waits in the hallway while Mara's fighting for her life. I suck at summary's, I know


_Pray God you can cope.  
I stand outside this woman's work,  
This woman's world.  
Ooh, it's hard on the man,  
Now his part is over.  
Now starts the craft of the father._

"She'll be alright you know…"

Force, that's the thing people say when it wouldn't be alright, the thing you say when you know it's all going to end real soon but you just want to hold on to that last piece of hope that you have left in you.

Didn't they know this? Or did they? And did they really think he was that naïve that he didn't know this?

"I love how after all these years you can still be so naïve."

She had once said those words to him when he told her nothing would go wrong on their wedding day.

He could still remember that day clearly, well all those days on Garqi really. But that evening, when he saw her sitting there in the light of the sunset he knew that marrying her was the right thing to do. That she was the right woman for him.

He never thought of the day he would lose her back then.

Sure, maybe he did on Narauan, when he had just asked her. But the thought itself became so unimaginably hard to bear that he didn't even dare to think it. It became so hard to bear that in his mind it had become something impossible. And the truth is that he had dismissed it the second she told him to do just that. Because on that moment, when he realized he loved her he also realized he would do anything she asked him to.

So why did everything feel like it was going to happen now?

Why didn't she ask him to help her?

This moment it just… It couldn't be!

_I know you have a little life in you yet.  
I know you have a lot of strength left.  
I know you have a little life in you yet.  
I know you have a lot of strength left._

He should be hoping just like the rest of his family and friends, and secretly he does but everytime he starts doing it, other thoughts come up in his head.

Memories and even regrets piled up in his head.

He remembered their second honey moon.

Even though the memory was a wonderful one and he had enjoyed every single minute of those days now… now he wished that memory hadn't been there.

Because it was there simply because they just didn't have enough time for each other in those days.

How he wished he had spend more time with her, how…

No, he shouldn't think like that, not now… That memory was one he would always cherish and so was every single memory of them reunited after being separated for a long time.

He wouldn't ask for anything in return.

A young Twi'lek passed him hurriedly in the hallway, not daring to meet his eyes.

He knew who she was, she was one of Cilghal's apprentices. He just hoped that the speed in which she passed him was a good sign not a bad one.

But he knew better than that.

It's in people's as it is in Twi'lek's nature to console people when there's the slightest bit of hope, the fact that she had nothing to say to him… nothing at all…

Luke sat down on one of the chairs and cradled his head in his hands.

He wanted to fight, to be in his X-Wing in the midst of a battle, to teach Padawan's, to do some lightsaber-practice, …

Those were situations in which he knew what to do.

Not this one, he just didn't know what to do in this one.

_I should be crying, but I just can't let it show.  
I should be hoping, but I can't stop thinking_

He should be crying shouldn't he? That's what they always show in those holo-drama's Mara secretly loved.

Sometimes they would watch one together but they weren't really Luke's cup of tea. Life already had so much drama so why add some more?

But he did it because from time to time a single tear would escape. He never said anything about it, knowing Mara that would've banished him straight to the sofa but still… he couldn't imagine a more beautiful scene than that.

But he couldn't cry now… because it would feel as if he was giving up and he couldn't. He couldn't give up on her.

"As long as I'm fighting, I'm not dying."

She had said to him, her face pale but her green eyes, those beautiful green eyes of her sparkling.

She was a fighter, she had always been one… She wouldn't give up.

He knew that as he was sitting here, Mara was in that room, giving the fight of her life.

He had helped her fight before, no, not help. He had fought by her side.

Mara was such a strong woman that she just didn't need help.

But now that she probably did need it, he couldn't give it to her.

_Of all the things I should've said,  
That I never said.  
All the things we should've done,  
Though we never did.  
All the things I should've given,  
But I didn't._

He remembered their wedding day, how beautiful she had looked, he was sure that every single woman in that room must've been jealous, and that every single man in that room must've envied him.

And when Ackbar finally announced them husband and wife he was sure he had finally found the completeness he was looking for.

"And do you, Luke Skywalker, promise to forsake all others, to be Mara's comfort and confidant, friend, lover and companion for your mortal days?"

"I do."

Oh boy, he truly was naïve.

The rest of is mortal days, and here he was, seven years of marriage, about to lose her.

No, he wasn't naïve.

Because he knew that if she would die, a part of him would go with her.

The rest of his mortal days…

_Give me these moments back.  
Give them back to me.  
Give me that little kiss.  
Give me your hand._

Cilghal stood in front of him.

"You may go and see her now."

Why did Mon Calamari have such unreadable faces?

He stood up and followed her inside.

Mara was lying asleep in her bed, she looked peaceful.

"They're both stabile now but we need to keep monitoring them." Cilghal said as she stood behind him.

Luke took his wife's hand in his and let his thumb touch her wedding band.

Maybe it was just his imagination but he couldn't help but see determination in her face.

As if she were telling him that she was still fighting and maybe even scold him for those thoughts he had back in the hallway.

At that moment Luke knew that he and Mara still had a lot of living left ahead of them.

That this just wouldn't be the end but just the beginning for their little family.


End file.
